Damn, $2.97 in CA here. But, the question becomes: are the gas stations too far away to justify the gas it takes to go there and get gas (unless you're going to fill up several gas canisters while you're at it or something)?

I think it's probably infeasible for me to head out to Ocean City myself :-D

I think it's probably infeasible for me to head out to Ocean City myself :-D

But if you did I'd certainly put you up for the night both directions!

when it comes to lower prices somewhat closer to you, the reasoning becomes, "If I drive 10 miles south to do my shopping instead of 5 miles east, and I fill my tank (say 10 gals) while I'm down there with gas that costs 30 cents less per gallon (around here this is a realistic difference) a savings of $3, is it worth the extra 10 miles that I drive?

If your car gets just 20 mpg and your drive an extra 10 miles to buy the gas there you've spent about $1.50 in the effort of saving $3 so yes, you do save some money. (if your car gets 30 mpg your savings is $2)

However, even if you have a HumVee that gets only 9 mpg and you drive that extra 10 miles round trip and even if this means you lose a TINY bit of money by doing so, you may be effecting lower prices on gas in your own town simply by starving out the gas stations which would prefer to sell you gas at whatever price they think you will pay.

This example can be expanded in more directions. Suppose your car gets 20 mpg and the extra distance you have to drive is 20 miles, again that's a whole gallon of gas wasted and you are only breaking even but you are still sticking it to the gas stations with have the higher prices, *and* unless you are stupid you are unlikely to cover a full 20 miles without stopping at some other spots along the way, like that beer store that has that rare beer you like to buy now and then, or that little Indian store that sells the freshest cardamom and cilantro.

I'm ad libbing (or stalking you) but you get the idea, which is that one can make a longer trip worthwhile with some forethought (and running one's tank as low as reasonable to preferably carry more than just 10 gals if possible. If I get really creative I suppose I really could strap my 12 gallon Subaru fuel tank onto my utility trailer and fill it one day while I was up there. Pumping the gas to my car is not so much difficult as time consuming but possibly worthwhile as my trailer is lightweight enough as not to significantly reduce my gas mileage.

But I do agree going to the coast for no other reason than to buy gas would be stupid. On the other hand, planning a trip to the coast without first checking to make certain they are not charging blackmail prices out there could also be stupid.

It's under 1.00 in England, only that's British Pounds per litre (you'll get 0.55 Pounds for your Dollar and there's 3.78 litres in a gallon.)

Hmm, so we're talking under $6.87/g.

Actually, I read that there's a price war going on now, so they're much happier. Last Friday prices had falled as low as 0.899/l ($6.18/g) for regular unleaded, so stick that in your pipe and, err, something.